


Real Talk

by kashewmoo, link621



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:27:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26401141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kashewmoo/pseuds/kashewmoo, https://archiveofourown.org/users/link621/pseuds/link621
Summary: Years after graduating high school, HaraTetsu, Hirazen, and Shiraishi's older sister are in a successful polyamorous relationship. But things become complicated when HaraTetsu wants to get married...
Relationships: Hara Tetsuya/Taira Yoshiyuki
Kudos: 1





	Real Talk

**Author's Note:**

> This was written during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and makes reference to business restrictions during the pandemic.

Since the pandemic began, Hara had limited his time outside as much as possible, just like anyone else, except for the occasional visits to the small dinner theatre he and Taira operated to make sure that everything was still in order and to pick up mail. They had not been able to have any shows for over a month, now, and the future of the theatre was in serious question. Not that they had been especially successful to begin with - they were still in the infancy of the business and mostly their customers were family, friends, and the occasional friend of a friend who was dragged along. 

Were it not for his girlfriend’s job at Pmda, they wouldn’t have any regular income coming in other than the forthcoming relief from the stimulus bill and meager interest on the small balance in their savings account. 

Hara took one of the chairs off one of the tables where it had been resting since their last curtain drop weeks before and sat heavily in the chair. A poof of dust kicked up from the cushion as he did and his eyes wandered over to his business partner and… life partner who had joined him for the inspection of the theatre. This all would have been so much harder without Taira, too.

“We’re going to have so much cleaning to do,” he lamented.

So much cleaning and preparation… and marketing and comedy and good food to drag people back through the doors whenever it was appropriate to begin hosting shows once more. It would be a long road ahead for actually opening for business once more. When even the successful actors and voice actors and idols and artists that you read about in internet news articles and saw their faces plastered across giant billboards overlooking major city attractions were having difficulties continuing work in the strange times, well, how was a local, barely-off-the-ground theatre supposed to fare?

“You can say that again.” It was accented by a long suffering sigh and the sound of ass hitting the stage as Taira plopped himself down, crossing his legs beneath himself as though he were a child watching his teacher read a story, and propping his cheeks in his hands to look as pitiful as his very soul felt.

It had been a dream of his ever since he was a young boy to have a place to call his own - where you could gather family and friends together over home cooked, beloved Osaka food, and laugh together over whatever stupid antics came up that night. Over the years, it had manifested in part time work at a takoyaki restaurant near his home, winning local manzai competitions with his younger brother, and perfecting his tennis combination with Hara that showed them success from middle school through university where they had played a key role at both Shitenhouji and Handai. Good food and comedy was an integral part of his very being, and the theatre that he and Hara had built with their own very hands was one of his life’s greatest treasure.

Not that they like. Literally built it with their own hands. That’s what their landlord was for. Or whoever built the building originally. It didn’t matter.

Everything else - _everything_ else - was through their blood, sweat, and tears. (And a sizeable loan that made Taira and Hara turn green and nearly find themselves burying their faces in the toilet upon signing the agreement, but that wasn’t important. The little details, that’s all they were. Y’know. Minuscule.)

"We're going to have so much cleaning to do," Hara lamented, identical to the first time in cadence. But even the tried and true gag failed to spark joy or laughter in his core like it should be. This place - this shrine to the God of Laughter, this sacred hollow of comedy - this place has been defiled by doom. And gloom. And dust.

He gave a long-suffering sigh to mirror Taira. "Do you think Mitsuru would worry if we spent all day here cleaning? Seeing it like this is really jamming my buttons."

Similarly, though it was the perfect lead into the gag and Taira set it up perfectly, everything about it just felt all wrong. The thought was accented by the sound of him flopping back onto the stage, staring up at the stage lights that had cost them a fortune. On a personal level, the quarantine had actually served all of them quite well - he had no complaints at all to spend an increased amount of time with the people he loved. But everything else about it sucked.

“‘If you can spend all day cleaning the theatre, then you can pick up after yourselves every once in a while,’” Taira said in a high pitched falsetto, waving his hand in the air to accent his point. But that gag, too, too, rang hollow. “I dunno. She’d probably actually just wanna help us.”

“...Probably.” It was hard to even make fun of Mitsuru nagging when she would just be kind to them if she knew how much they were both struggling with all of this. This sucked. Hara rested his chin in his hand and absently wiped some dust off the table that surrounded where the chair had been. It would definitely be easier with three of them, but... Hara looked at his hand, now covered with a thick layer of grey dust. “She’s actually the best.”

“She is the best,” Taira confirmed, letting his arm fall back to his side. Mitsuru had been so supportive of their goals and aspirations, even if it left her the primary source of their income while they got the business off the ground. “I’d rather not bother her with this, though. She’s got enough going on.”

“Yeah.” Hara had been thinking about Mitsuru a lot, lately, actually. Maybe it was the wrong time to be giving any of it any thought, but with everything going on and the trouble it was causing for the business, the fear that they could face legal problems if one of them got sick or died and they needed to deal with hospitals and wills and stuff… well, and the fact that all of this made him feel like if they didn’t start talking kids soon, she could easily get swept so deep into her career that it would never be a good time. He knew she would want to continue to work after a kiddo was born.

“We shouldn’t talk to her, but we should probably talk about her.”

Taira knew that tone well. It was the tone that suggested that Hara had something on his mind and likely had for a while - usually centralized around serious conversations, but given who they were and their constant need for jokes and fooling around, they were never too serious. At least, not without some silliness. With the given situation, it was really no surprise that they were overdue for one of those talks. It had been a couple of months of completely winging it and seeing what came out of it. 

Pushing himself back upright, he gave Hara his full attention, dangling his legs over the side of the stage. His jeans would be absolutely covered with dust. And his hair. Bad idea. Yuck. “Oh yeah?” 

Hara ran his fingers through his hair, accidentally snapping his hair tie and sending it sailing full force at Taira as it broke against the tension of his hand. He waited for it to hit Taira, waiting the comically appropriate amount of time, and cried, “duck!”

The hair tie harmlessly bounced off Taira’s cheek, though his nose crinkled in the aftermath. “You’re too slow!”

Hara waited again for a comically long period of time before doing a face-first fall into the ground. He waited for Taira to yell at him again for being too slow to react before saying softly, “That joke fell flat.”

“Both jokes fell flat,” Taira said jokingly, abandoning his spot on the stage to kneel down beside Hara and pat his back a couple of times. Beneath his clothing, Taira knew Hara to be strong with broad shoulders like the true athlete he was, but uselessly lying on the ground he looked like he did when he was fifteen and bitching about how he didn’t actually want Taira to graduate after all. “Get up, you.”

“I fell flat,” Hara agreed, pushing himself up onto his elbows to look up at Taira. He never really got sick of looking at his face, even after knowing him as long as they had known one another. He knew it wasn’t the most popular opinion with people who saw how much of a goofball Taira was, but he always thought Taira was handsome. Hara didn’t consider himself bi, he was really only attracted to women, but Taira was this exception that he didn’t bother to try to understand. 

For a few seconds, Taira regarded Hara in return. He always knew when Hara was thinking dumb thoughts - his eyes all but twinkled with them - and now was no exception. With a slow quirk of his brow followed by a cheeky smile, Taira asked, “Quit’cha starin’ at me,” as he relinquished his kneeling position to plop back on his ass instead.

Hara also got up just enough to plop on his ass across from Taira and demanded, “Who’s staring?”

“You’re starin’,” Taira drawled in return.

“I’m staring!” Hara parroted, though at a higher pitch. Then paused. “Wait - no, it’s you! Don’t turn this back on me!” He was determined to hit a gag that made Taira smile at least a little, nothing else was making anyone smile, lately. 

“Who’s turning this back on who now?” Taira scrunched up his face in his signature gag pose - the perfect boke to the tsukkomi.

“ _You_ are,” Hara accused. 

Taira turned his nose up to the air sharply. “I am.”

Hara couldn’t keep his composure anymore and laughed, leaning his weight back into his hands behind him. “Damn, you got me.”

It took approximately 0.00 seconds for Taira to also break into laughter, drawing his legs up to drape his arms over his knees. “The winner… is clearly me.”

“No, stop, not that.” Hara tried to compose himself enough to actually refocus their conversation to what he wanted to talk about, but the little reminder that not everything was horrible was very welcome. “You weren't supposed to make me laugh this much. That was what I was trying to do.”

Taira’s laughter calmed to snorfling giggles, but no less entertained by their antics. “Guess I’ve got you charmed.”

“It’s the mole,” Hara agreed through laughter.

“Obviously,” Taira also agreed, though it was quickly followed up by throwing his head back and letting out an extremely audible sigh of relief. “Feels good to laugh.”

“Needed it,” Hara agreed, putting one hand to his chest to feel his own breath of relief slowly fill his chest and then slip out in a controlled sigh. “Sorry that I have to get a bit serious about things, again.” Not that it was a bad thing he wanted to talk about. He hastily added, “that sounded way more ominous than it is, promise.”

When Taira straightened once more, his brow was arched again in curiosity. “Man, put it like that, and it makes me think I’m in trouble.”

“You’re not,” Hara said with a dismissive motion of his hand. “It’s about Mitsuru, like I said.” The rather uncomplicated situation that sounded complicated from the outside involved a number of missed communications ending abruptly when Mitsuru basically smashed their faces together and said, “now kiss.” Things made a lot of sense right now and Hara wanted to tread carefully if he was going to do anything to change the balance that existed in their current relationship. 

“I don’t even know where to begin,” he admitted, running his hand over the back of his head and fiddling with the loose hair no longer restrained by the hair tie. “I… uh, think I want to marry her.”

For as much as it should have seemed like blinders flashing in the night, with giant “warning, warning” fluorescent lights complete with tacky arrows pointing toward an ominous “danger” sign, Taira just wasn’t surprised by the confession.

Taira was in the beginning of his second year of high school when he and Mitsuru started dating. She was everything any guy could ever want in a girlfriend - long legs, a wicked smile, a daredevil when it suited her, a year above him, and hot as fuck. She was the sort of girl that guys fell all over themselves trying to impress, love confessions coming left, right, and center, but who were also petrified of ever getting too close for she could crush them between her thighs… or however it was that people used to say it.

The relationship between them blossomed and burned bright from the get go - Taira was drawn to the way she never seemed to grow tired of his constant wisecracks, giving him beautiful belly laughs that had them both rolling around in stitches. He didn’t naturally gravitate toward girls for relationship prospects, but physical attraction grew as a result of their shared experiences and the fun they had, and Taira knew that this girl was special. Mitsuru was the older sister of one of his beloved underclassmen, though one would never believe it by their personalities alone, and Taira spent a lot of time in that household goofing off with the constant revolving door of other members of the Shitenhouji tennis club, including his doubles partner, partner in manzai, protege, and absolute favorite person in the entire world, Hara.

Hara’s crush on Mitsuru was no secret to Taira. He saw the way Hara’s eyes lingered on her, that look in his eyes he got when he made up his mind about something that was deeply important to him. Taira felt like he was watching from the outside in as Hara fell in love with Mitsuru, all but chasing her around like a lovesick puppy, while Taira paraded around with the most amazing, beautiful girl on his arm, and… nothing about it felt right. Taira loved Mitsuru with all of his being, but there was someone who would literally walk to the ends of the earth for her, and Taira couldn’t compete with that sort of true love that was merely talked about in fairytales.

That, and there was the small little problem of Taira’s special sort of feelings toward a certain redhead that was kept very near and dear to his heart. That would have just been catastrophic.

The breakup had come to a complete surprise to everyone, but most of all Hara who yelled at him for over an hour after he learned of it happening at all. Things like, “But she’s actually, _literally_ the most perfect human being in the whole entire world, what is _wrong_ with you,” and, “What the hell are you thinking dumping an actual angel to grace us with her presence?”

Through all of it, Taira calmly sat through Hara’s outburst and confusion, letting him get all of the feelings out before softly offering, “Now’s your chance, Tetsu,” and quietly excusing himself with a lingering fond touch to Hara’s hair.

Following that, lots of shit happened, missed communications often missed by a mile or like a hundred miles, yadda yadda yadda, but things slowly mended with Mitsuru and their friendship came back stronger than ever. Hara and Mitsuru did start dating much to Taira’s eternal relief, Hara had safely graduated from high school and joined Taira on the Handai tennis team where they kicked ass and took names, and things seemed to be going better than they ever had before until one day they were all piled in the cramped living room of Mitsuru’s small apartment, laughing and joking as they so often did, only to have Mitsuru drop a total bomb on them that it was _painfully_ clear to her that there was attraction and pent up desire between the two of them, and she thought they needed to figure their shit out and face reality of what they’d been blatantly ignoring for years, oh, and by the way, Tetsu, you’re not getting a thing until you and Yoshiyuki figure yourselves out.

So much for the carefully wrapped close to his heart emotions that were suddenly thrust out for the whole world to see. Hara’s jaw was slack, Taira’s jaw slacker, and literal hours passed in near deafening silence while Mitsuru seemed to happily enjoy some alone time in her bedroom before they cautiously broached the very subject Mitsuru had encouraged, finding that kissing was nice, very nice actually, and oh maybe roaming hands felt amazing on one another’s skin, and before they knew it Mitsuru had joined them once more and collapsed with them in a half naked pile following the craziest makeout session of Taira’s life that just. Felt right and incredible and he didn’t actually ever want it to end.

A lot more communication, more talking about their true feelings than Taira ever could have been prepared for, and more communication on top of that led them on a new journey maneuvering the world as a unit of three. It was chaotic in the positive sense, messy in all the right ways, and Taira found that more than ever his heart was overflowing with love for the two who he had cherished deeply for so many years.

Just like any relationship, it had its ups and downs and it wasn’t always easy, but any negative drawback was immediately outweighed by a thousand pros.

But that led them to the present. In the face of a global pandemic and the precarious future of their business they had poured their heart and soul into, Taira hadn’t been thinking necessarily about logistics of their future, other than that of course he wanted Hara and Mitsuru both to be his partners in life. And, just like any long term couple, they had wishes and desires and aspirations like raising a family together and had talked at length about what that could potentially look like in the future to them. The matter of marriage, on the other hand… that was a completely different ball game and that added a level of complication to their what appeared to be complicated but was actually not really all that complicated relationship, and it probably wasn’t the best time to be attempting to maneuver that logistical and legal nightmare?

Taira would be fooling himself if he ever thought it was actually all that complicated, though. They’d need to find a way to be able to link all three of them together to protect their familial unit, but the matter of marriage really only had one logical answer because that’s how it was always gonna be, wasn’t it? There hadn’t ever been a question in Taira’s mind.

And so, he responded with a simple, “I know.”

Unaware of Taira’s 1,163 word internal monologue, Hara nodded along to Taira’s understanding and pressed forward. “I’ve been thinking that we need to do something to protect us - our situation is really abnormal and seeing how people are dying and getting sick and all this crazy shit is happening, we need to do something about this. And, well, kids. That’s a thing, too.”

In agreement, Taira nodded, not interrupting Hara while he was on a roll.

When Taira didn’t respond to Hara’s obvious pause waiting for some sort of interjection, he asked, “Don’t you have opinions?”

Of course he had opinions. When did he not have opinions? Hara was fooling himself if he thought Taira had nothing to say in response. “Of course I do, but don’t let me interrupt.” In fondness, Taira reached out to gently knock a couple of knuckles against Hara’s jaw.

Hara looked squarely at the elephant in the room, Taira, and said, “I’m worried about making things that aren’t really that complicated more complicated.” He was actually worried that something would happen to their perfectly functional, albeit three-way, marriage-like relationship that already existed. If Hara and Mitsuru were to be married, he wanted to make sure that didn’t end up with Taira somehow not having a place in the relationship, anymore.

Admittedly, it would be unreasonable to expect that _nothing_ would change within a context of marriage between Hara and Mitsuru. Not that Taira would feel any less treasured or part of the relationship - that had long since been solidified in the early stages, when the relationship was first opened for him to join - but there were some legal ramifications of marriage that, yes, would tie Hara and Mitsuru closer together, but by its very nature not allow for Taira to be part of that joining. Either way they’d likely need to hire an attorney well versed in… marital laws? Was there paperwork to basically be like, hi, this is my other significant other? For a country who couldn’t even fathom two dudes getting married, in what world could they swing two partners?

For a bit longer than due, Taira stayed quiet, considering his next words carefully. “If you’re worried that somehow I’d feel like I was being pushed out or something, I wouldn’t think too hard about that. That’s not where my mind goes.” Where did his mind go, then? Were there YouTube videos explaining similar experiences? Taira had stumbled across stories of individuals who lived similar lives - it wasn’t so weird that they were the first to navigate it.

Taira let out a huff of a sigh, though it didn’t replace the thoughtful look on his face. “I guess… what is it about marriage that you want? Is it just the commitment in front of our friends and family? Or are you thinking about all of the, uh… legal stuff that comes with it.”

There was the little part of Hara that had dreamed of marrying Mitsuru for basically forever that immediately screamed to be recognized, but that wasn’t it… at least, not anymore. Things had changed quite a bit since he was a confused teenager trying to figure out how to support someone who was his best friend and who he looked up to while that person was dating his dream girl. No, he had been forced to face that he had feelings for that “best friend” head-on by said dream girl and… this was the result. So, yeah, maybe there had been a part of him that wanted a white wedding and to see her in a pretty dress, but that part of him was no longer at the forefront with what had become of their relationship.

“I guess… I’m thinking more the legal stuff and wanting kids and all of that.” He anxiously pushed his fingers through his hair, again, hating every second of this conversation more and more as it continued. “And I don’t know how to not sound like an ass saying I was hoping they’d be Haras, you know…”

There were several avenues Taira could go down in his response, but given Hara’s honesty and transparency, Taira was hesitant to say anything that could potentially squash it or call into question Hara’s intentions. There was that tiny, minuscule part of himself that couldn’t help feeling at least a tiny bit… well, hurt wasn’t the right word, but something short of jumping for joy when it did sound a bit like he was the awkward third wheel.

Taira didn’t have a particular attachment to his last name either way, so it wasn’t like that bothered him. Hell, he didn’t even go by his last name to 99% of the people out there who knew him either as Hirazen or Yoshiyuki. It would make sense for any children to share a name with Mitsuru, and if that was Hara through marriage, Taira didn’t care.

“This conversation kinda sucks,” he admitted with a laugh. “Don’t feel like an ass. I’m glad you’re being honest, Tetsu.”

"This conversation does suck," Hara agreed wholeheartedly. He knew that it had to sound even worse to Taira than it felt saying it. But he wouldn't say something like that if it wasn't true and worth saying. "Thanks… sorry about it, anyway."

It wasn’t anything to apologize over, but Taira let the apology stand anyway. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t really know how this will… look like, I guess. You guys getting married, I mean.”

"Ah… I don’t know, either." And that was probably something they should have actually been talking about with Mitsuru, too, Hara mused to himself. He wasn't even sure he should have broached this with just Taira. "I don't want it to look like the two of us in marital bliss and you out in the cold…"

The more they talked about either Taira feeling left out or pointed out that he _could_ feel left out, the more it made him feel like he _should_ feel left out instead of totally fine. Which he was - totally fine, that was - but how else was he supposed to think?

Or maybe it was the pandemic getting to both of them, but whoops. Too late. Emotions activated. It was the Cancer in him.

“Wait - are you saying that you’re gonna be all happy ‘rabu rabu’ land, and that would make other people wonder?”

“Of course we’re going to be in happy ‘rabu rabu’ land, this isn’t some sort of loveless marriage!” Hara leaned forward to flick Taira in the forehead. “It can be a happy ‘rabu rabu’ threesome just like it has been up until now, too, asshole.”

“Then stop making it sound like I’m gonna think I’m some add on menu item when you order the special at the ramen shop,” Taira retorted, flicking him in the forehead in return. “Ya shithead.”

“I’m trying to think of the expensive add-on’s feelings, jackass!” Hara knew that Taira was generally a laid back, even-keel person, but he had _feelings_ that deserved to be treated with respect just like anyone else. And it wasn’t like Hara was having a good time having this conversation that made it sound like he and Mitsuru were going to run off without Taira even though that wasn’t what they wanted at all.

This was a stupid argument. Taira knew it was a stupid argument, but the good Osaka boy at heart couldn’t just let an _opportunity_ go by. And it was important to talk about - maybe not on their own, but it was a good first step before they broached the subject with Mitsuru.

“And this expensive add on’s _feelings_ are that he has known for a really long time that this was an eventuality and was totally okay with it and in fact is why this whole thing came about to begin with, but now is questioning if that’s actually the case because it keeps being brought up, jerk.”

Oh. Well that made sense. “Then say that to begin with.” Hara got up just long enough to plop down next to Taira on the ground, bumping their shoulders together. Of course it was reasonable for him to not be sure if he was okay with it and of course it changed things that he had been anticipating it because then Hara didn’t feel quite so much like he had just blindsided him. “Yoshiyuki,” he said, doing something incredibly rare for him and actually calling Taira by his name. “Mitsuru and I are both totally bananas for you.”

“You didn’t let me,” Taira grumbled, though he bumped Hara’s shoulder in return before casually dropping an arm around his shoulders. For better or for worse, this was his person, and for as even keeled as Taira was, it did make his heart do one of those stupid fluttery jump things. Hearts were the ultimate betrayal to a man. At least, that’s what he assumed that’s what those gruff, super Japanese guys thought when they were faced with those weird ~feelings~ that were supposedly only for a woman.

“I know.” Any tension, humorous or not, fled his voice, leaving him calm once more. “And I am, too. I have no doubt or worry or concern or anything of the sort about that.”

Hara looked up at him, glad for the reassurance, though he wasn’t worried to begin with. He knew where he stood. Really, all of this probably was already more complicated than it needed to be. “Maybe we should propose to her together - maybe that’s the way to do this right. Whoever is on the marriage certificate isn’t really as important as all of us being together.”

It was a reasonable plan. There was the fact that it would still be important that they actually figure out what it was that Mitsuru wanted... but they could always go back and propose to her after the fact, right? That wouldn’t be weird. No weirder than their thurple or whatever the hell some people called it on YouTube, anyway.

“You’re probably right,” Taira agreed, pulling Hara tight against his side. “Either way we’re gonna need to get some serious legal help on our side.”

“Yeah, no Osakan humor-style legal help.” Hara rested his head against Taira’s shoulder, feeling the weight of the conversation finally drift away. Ironic, really, since the conversation definitely just got heavier. All of this would be so much easier if there were some sort of protections for people who wanted to just live a life in this sort of partnership and weren’t just trying to game the tax system or whatever other people were worried about.

Although they had worked with an attorney for the business, Taira was pretty sure that they would need to work with someone else. Maybe he had a recommendation? Or, they had friends in their lives who had complicated lives, and could probably shoot them some names, too. Ochi must have had some hell of a lawyer to deal with his mess of a situation. Or maybe a good old “lawyers for polyamory” Google search would suffice.

Meh. It didn’t matter. That was a problem for future Taira.

Maybe the weight of the conversation had faded, but it didn’t make it any less serious, all jokes aside. And Taira didn’t want Hara needlessly worrying about it or anything.

“We’ll make it work,” he said quietly, though with no lack of confidence in his voice. “We always do.”

“Always do,” Hara parroted. Admittedly, his mind had also landed on Ochi as a resource since his life seemed significantly more complicated than theirs by no fault of his own. At least they had made the choices that led to them having a complicated situation that would require lawyering up. “We’re the legendary buchou combi - something as little as this won’t take us down.”

Taira let out a “pshaw,” using his free hand to offer Hara a fist bump. “And this time we don’t, uh…” A brief pause stretched out between them as Taira carefully considered his words. What he was going to say was that this time they weren’t going to be handing off captaincy to a certain Shiraishi, but he supposed in a way they were still going to be handing themselves off to a Shiraishi… just this time in marriage.

Which was actually a bit of a wild idea when he actually just thought about what it would mean.

And he laughed.

“Finish your sentences before asking for fist bumps!” Hara snapped, though he still gave the fist bump when offered.

It only served to make Taira laugh harder, slipping his hand up into Hara’s hair to mess it up. “I was just thinking - y’know, that maybe we’re not passing down a captaincy to a Shiraishi, but we’re like forever tying ourselves to a Shiraishi or something like that.”

Hara leaned his head into the touch and said thoughtfully, “Maybe we can fix all of this just by becoming Shiraishis, instead…”

Taira snorted. “What, realize Kenya’s dream?”

Hara finally laughed loudly, the memory of his dumb underclassman being particularly dumb was enough to melt away some of the funk that he had been in with the whole pandemic lockdown thing. “More like Kamen Rider - we’ll combine all of our mechs to make one giant legendary buchou Shiraishi mech.”

That thought was absolutely terrifying, and Taira loved every part of it. “Programmed with some dumb song where it gyrates and touches his face unnecessarily with a moaned ‘ecstasy~’.”

That was perfect. Hara fell back on the floor laughing at the image. He plastered his hand to his face in perfect Shiraishi fashion and said, “Ah~ ecstasy~”

They were probably going to hell for that. But their ship to heaven had soared a long, long time ago. “Ah~ ecstasy~” Taira parroted, before tackling on, “Ken~ya~”

“SHIRAISHI!” Hara yelled back in his best impression of the Kenya exuberance that seemed to manifest most when he was specifically yelling at Shiraishi Kuranosuke. He made sure to do a stupid fist pump motion along with it.

Shiraishi Kuranosuke and Oshitari Kenya were two of the most teasible people in the entire world, and Taira didn’t feel an ounce of remorse for digging right into it. They were his beloved kouhai - what kind of responsible senpai would he be if he didn’t relentlessly make fun of them?

“I forgot how to play speed tennis against Jusaburou, okay!”

“Sorry, HaraTetsu-senpai, I know this was your last chance to play in Nationals in junior high, but I’m gonna just forget how to function for a bit, _bye_.” Hara looked over at Taira. For all their joking it had actually caused a bunch of angst for Kenya at the time, so… “I can’t wait to see their stupid faces when this is all over.”

“Me neither.” A warm smile touched both Taira’s lips and his eyes. In fact, seeing everybody’s stupid faces was part of what kept Taira putting one foot in front of the other when everything in life had suddenly seemed so uncertain after it had been basically perfect for years. But more importantly than their friends and family who they hadn’t seen in ages, it was Mitsuru and the man laying down on the ground beside him that was the true reason why he had made it this far.

Really, he wasn’t sure how he would have gotten out of the pandemic without being an anxious mess. For as much as Taira had his shit together, there were times when he really identified well with the Cancer sign, needing security and family and reassurance in order to survive. Fortunately, he had an abundance of that in his life, and for that he was grateful.

Those grateful feelings were best communicated outside of his head, though, and so Taira partially laid down beside Hara, propping his weight on his elbow, and leaned in to give Hara a soft kiss.

Hara put a hand to Taira’s shoulder and returned the kiss gently. He knew that look that Taira had on his face - the wistful look that meant that he needed just a little extra reassurance that he wasn’t going anywhere and that he was loved. Sometimes words were just harder, Hara knew that.

It was gone nearly as quickly as it came, Taira drawing away just enough to meet Hara’s eyes, and smile at him fondly. Yep. That was his person. And now he was looking forward to going home to their other person, too. “Don’t forget I’m bananas for you two, too.”


End file.
